---
title: "Detect references in content"
method: POST
path: "/content/references"
tags: ["Content"]
---

# Detect references in content

`POST /content/references`

Analyzes the provided content and returns a list of external references found within it.  The artifact type is used to determine the appropriate reference detection strategy.  If no artifact type is provided, the system will attempt to auto-detect it from the content.

## Query parameters

- `artifactType` string

## Request body

- VersionContent
  - `content` string, required — Raw content of the artifact version or a valid (and accessible) URL where the content can be found.
  - `references` ArtifactReference[] — Collection of references to other artifacts.
    - `groupId` string, required
    - `artifactId` string, required
    - `version` string
    - `name` string, required
  - `contentType` string, required — The content-type, such as `application/json` or `text/xml`.
  - `encoding` 'base64' — Optional encoding for the content property. When set to 'base64', the content value will be base64-decoded by the server before processing.

## Response `200`

List of references detected in the provided content.  Each reference will have only the `name` field populated.  The `name` value corresponds to the reference string found in the content (e.g. a JSON Schema `$ref` value, a Protobuf import path, or an Avro type name).

- ArtifactReference[]
  - `groupId` string, required
  - `artifactId` string, required
  - `version` string
  - `name` string, required

## Other responses

- `400` — Common response for all operations that can return a `400` error.
- `500` — Common response for all operations that can fail with an unexpected server error.

---

[API](https://skmtc.net/apicurio/apis/apicurio-registry-api-v3.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.net/apicurio/apis/apicurio-registry-api-v3/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc-service-staging.skmtc.workers.dev/v1/apis/apicurio/apicurio-registry-api-v3/revisions/c39cb56d7dbc/schema)